


Smoothing Things Over

by Wallwalker



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sgrub Session, Dubious Consent, Emotional Manipulation, F/F, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Mind Control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-29
Updated: 2013-06-29
Packaged: 2017-12-16 12:51:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/862231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallwalker/pseuds/Wallwalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She's not doing anything wrong, really. Kanaya ought to be <i>thanking</i> her!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smoothing Things Over

**Author's Note:**

> Edit of a ficlet I posted on tumblr a while back. For Trope Bingo.

"This is such a nice night," Kanaya says. 

"Yeah." Vriska grins as opens her eyes, her head resting comfortably in her matesprit's lap. She always has to close her eyes to think when she was in Kanaya's hive - it's just so _bright,_ like Kanaya didn't quite get the concept of laying low! And she has to keep track of her ideas, deal with them carefully. Everyone thinks it's easy having so many irons in the fire, and she's not going to tell them that they happen to be wrong, but she's still got a lot to do just keeping them straight! "It really is, isn't it?"

"Mmm-hm," Kanaya murmurs, stroking her hair. "Although I have to say, you're a bit of a mess right now."

"Hmm?" Vriska looks back up, her thoughts momentarily interrupted. "Did you just call _me_ a mess??"

"I said nothing you haven't said yourself." Kanaya is smiling for once, her fingers all tangled up in Vriska's hair. "I wish that you would allow me to trim your hair." It's a really pale thing to say, but Vriska figures that they were morails long enough before they flipped that that a couple of silly little habits like that aren't a big deal.

That doesn't mean she gets why Kanaya is worrying about it. "But why? I like it long, you know that!"

"Because you look like a wild troll," she says. "Even Nepeta keeps her hair neater than you do, and she practically _is_ a wild troll."

"So what? _I'm_ not worried about how it looks, so who else matters?"

She can feel it then, a new twist of irritation in Kanaya's peaceful introspection. "Do you honestly need to ask?"

Oops. Well, no help for it now. "Right. Sorry!" 

But Kanaya still stops stroking her hair, apparently not appeased by her apology. Well, she's just going to have to try a little harder. "Oh, come on," she says, closing her eyes. "You don't really want to start a fight over this, do you??"

And Kanaya pauses long enough to tell Vriska that yes, she does want to fight - that there's something that she wants to let off of her chest, and she's ready to do it. But Vriska knows her too well! Kanaya rarely gets angry, but when she does get angry she's dangerous - that's probably why she has all of those crazy ashen crushes that she gets, because she's scared that everyone's as dangerous as she is when they're mad. Vriska's seen her split some of her furniture in two, when she really gets going. That lipstick of hers isn't a toy!

Well, at least it's easier to fix, now that she knows more about her powers! She doesn't even give Kanaya a chance to answer, just starts to focus, making it look like she's exasperated as she unravels the twisted doubts and misgivings. It's really easy enough to do things like that - really nothing, once she'd learned how! Taking a few simple doubts and getting rid of them, smoothing things over until they were gone... it took almost no time at all! No, she can't exercise her powers the way that Mindfang could, not yet - she hasn't had nearly enough time to practice it for that! But she can make Kanaya smile again, start to calm down and stroke her hair again. She can make her stop feeling so angry.

The way Vriska sees it, she's not doing anything wrong. She's not! Kanaya had been flushed for her to begin with, right? She might not have figured it out right at first, but she did, after a while. And all she has to do is smooth a few worries over, make her feel a little happier when Vriska's around... it makes Kanaya happy too, so it can't really be wrong! What's wrong with making her matesprit happy?

"I suppose not," Kanaya finally answers. "It hardly seems worth all of that, does it?"

"Exactly!" Vriska grins up at her. "But if you really want to do something with it, I'll let you brush it!"

"I intend to hold you to that. It would be better than nothing," Kanaya says, but this time the annoyance is weaker, overshadowed by the sense of peace that Vriska has given her. "These tangles will take some time to pull out, though."

"Aw, Kanaya, you're killing me here!" Vriska rolls her eyes. "Okay, I guess. Just be careful!"

"Of course," Kanaya says, and the dark twist in her emotions finally fades away. "Although this may still hurt a bit, despite my best efforts. Here, let me find my brush..."

Vriska smiles as Kanaya turns away. There wasn't anything really _wrong_ about what she was doing, she told herself - Kanaya would probably thank her if she ever found out what she was doing! She hates being mad, right? So making her happy again's a good thing!

She has to admit that she's not looking forward to this, though - Kanaya is turning back around with one of her brushes, and she's smiling a bit _too_ cheerfully, now. But Vriska figures she'd better stick to what she said, because making Kanaya more upset just makes her life harder, so she turns around and settles in. "Watch the horns, babe," she says, and relaxes. It's a little tricky sometimes, sure. But it's making her life _so_ much easier!


End file.
